Sizing-machine for gold or like metals



. Patented Jul I9, I898. No. 607,564. w 6mm y SIZING mcnma run GOLD on um: METALS.

(Application filed Feb, 10, 1898.)

2 Sheat s-Sheet I.

(No Model.)

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No. 607,564.- Patented'luly l9, I898. W. GRAY.

SIZING MACHINE FDR GOLD 0R LIKE METALS.

(Application filed Feb. 10, 189$.) (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

73 mm mum 216W 61 m if air-blast machine.

N'rnn TATES ATET *rricn.

WILLIAM GRAY, OF LINCOLN, NEBRASKA.

SIZING-MACHINE FORGOLD OR LIKE METALS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 607,564, dated July 19, 1898. Application filed February 10, 1898. Serial No- 669,845. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern: I I

Be it known that I, WILLIAM GRAY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lincoln, Lancaster county, Nebraska, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sizing-Machines for Gold or Like Metals, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the separation of particles of gold from sand or other pulverized material, as in placer-mining, and it is designed to be used in connection with an For such separation of the dry materials by the action of an air-blast operating against the force of gravity it is essential for the best operation that the material, by a preliminary process, should be assorted as to the size of the particles. The force of the blast acts according to the size of the particles operated upon, and a blast of a certain force which would allow the more valuable and weighty particles of the mass to fall and be retained, while the worthless and lighter particles of a certain size would be blown out, would not have force enough to expel the larger particles of the lighter material. I have provided, therefore, an assorting or sizing apparatus for performing this preliminary operation and fitting the material to be operated upon by the air-separator, the said separator or concentrator being adapted to be adjusted so that the blast may be varied and the larger or smaller sizes be put through the same machine under currents of different force. I'have also had in view the combination of a machine adapted to be used in prospecting or to be carried into gulches in separated parts and onthe backs of pack-animals and to adapt the machine to the perfect assortment of thematerials by a single simple apparatus, which is at the same time fitted to select elongated particles or threads of gold and to concentrate them in the assorting-machine itself.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 shows the machine in perspective. Fig. 2 shows a vertical section; Fig. 3, a plan of part of the screen, illustrating the meshes. Fig. 4 is a detail view showing attachment of screens and pans.

In the drawings the assorting or sizing machine is shown in Fig. 1 as consisting of a box A, which rests directly upon handle-bars 13, the projecting ends of which are adapted to be grasped by the hands of the users in transportation. It is made removable therefrom and contains the separating or assorting' screens and is capable of being mounted upon or of connection with a concentrator. On the top of this box is a removable pan or hopper O, containinga screen D. This screen simply rests on the box and has meshes, preferably of one-fourth of an inch in size, for the removal of the coarsest material, such as rocks of considerable size or other refuse material.

Beneath this screen, which is preferably hori- 'zontal, is located a finer inclined screen E, and it' is so arranged that all the material passing through the screen above will fall upon the inclined screen below. On this the meshes are smaller (preferably of about half of the area) than those of the upper screen, so that the material is again assorted, the coarser, which cannot pass through, running down the inclined screen and discharging into a chute 6. Below the screen is a pan f, having the sameinclination and fitting closely to the under side thereof. It is made of sheet metal, with its lateral edges turned up and fixed to the walls of the box, so as to form a support for the frame 9 of the screen, which rests on said edges and is removable therefrom. The lower end of the pan has an inclined opening it,

through which the material falling through the screen E is discharged upon the upper end of the screen F. The inclined chute eis preferably made of sheet metal, the inner wall of which is turned over, so as to hook removably over the edge of the wall of the box in the slot made horizontally to admit the 'lower end of the screen E. The screen F is screen(marked H) is reversely inclined to the one next above it and discharges into a similar inclined chute Z; but-the lowest screen H is not provided with a pan, the material screened falling therefrom into a hopper M, provided with a spout m. At the end of the inclined chutes are suitable (preferably flexible) conveying-tubes,which conduct each separate screening to a suitable receptacle, and

the rods may be disconnected and the box moved from the base. The two sides of the frame or base are connected at the top by the hopper M and at the bottom by the cross-bar 0, so that both may be unscrewed and the sides separated for transportation. It will be understood that the meshes are successively smaller in size downwardly in the successive screens, so that it is the finest material which passes through the last. The number of screens may be varied according to the graduations required.

I prefer to make each screen of a mesh onehalf the size of that next above it, and the screens may be either of woven wire or perforated plate.

In order to provide for the Wire form of particles of gold, I make the meshes of the screen elongated in the line of the inclination and transversely to the line of motion of agitation. This agitation causes such linear particles to turn with their longer axes at right angles to the line of motion, and as this motion is transverse to the line of inclination it will bring the linear particles in line with the elongated mesh. Preferably I make these meshes of a length one-quarter to one-half inch long. The bars B are mounted upon standards 0, the upper ends of which are set in sockets of preferably cast-iron, having flanges fixed to the under side of the handlebars. The lower ends of the standards are set in sockets or mortises in the side beams T of the lower frame, so that the whole may be taken apart. As shownin Fig. 1,the standards are made thin at the central parts, so as to permit of oscillation across the inclination of the screens.

The elongated meshes are in all the inclined screens, but are especially efficient in the smaller meshes near the bottom. The particles of ore are usually the only elongated These chiefly pass through the particles.

elongated meshes and so are concentrated at the bottom.

The material being placed in the hopper O a slight agitation causes it to descend and be separated into assorted sizes of particles, as aboveindicated, and when a sufficient amount has thus separated each mass from its special receptacle may be separately put through the concentrator. It will be obvious that the chutes may be connected successively with the hopper of the concentrator, if preferred. The last hopper receives the elongated particles of wire-gold with other and the finest of the material.

The standards are thus made to serve the double purpose of forming part of the supporting-frame and means also for agitating the box. 1

In moving from place to place, as in prospecting or in placer-mining, the box, being connected to the handle-bars, may thereby be lifted off, removing the sockets from the tops of the standards, which, as parts of the frame, may be moved separately. The handles serve as grasps in agitating the box.

I claim 1. A sizing-machine, comprising a box having discharge-openings in front and rear, and a series of reversely-inclined screens and pans, said screens being provided with successivelydecreasing elongated meshes, and discharging through said openings in front and rear into independent receptacles, handlebars extending from front and rear, and flexible supporting-legs separable from the handlebars, substantially as described.

2. In a sizing-machine, the handle-bars having standards A fitted to receive the box and being provided with sockets underneath, and the detachable rods for holding the box thereon in combination with the flexible standards 0 of the supporting-frame.

3. In a sizing-machine, the box A having pans f with upturned edges fixed to the Walls of the box, inclined screens placed on said edges, openings in the box for the discharge of the material for the screens, and chutes having hooks fitted to the edge of the wall on the lower part of the opening.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

WILLIAM GRAY.

Witnesses HENRY E. COOPER, L. B. MIDDLETON. 

